Book Image

Mastering Entity Framework

By : Rahul Rajat Singh
Book Image

Mastering Entity Framework

By: Rahul Rajat Singh

Overview of this book

<p>Data access is an integral part of any software application. Entity Framework provides a model-based system that makes data access effortless for developers by freeing you from writing similar data access code for all of your domain models.</p> <p>Mastering Entity Framework provides you with a range of options when developing a data-oriented application. You’ll get started by managing the database relationships as Entity relationships and perform domain modeling using Entity Framework. You will then explore how you can reuse data access layer code such as stored procedures and table-valued functions, and perform various typical activities such as validations and error handling. You’ll learn how to retrieve data by querying the Entity Data Model and understand how to use LINQ to Entities and Entity SQL to query the Entity Data Model.</p>

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Mastering Entity Framework
Rahul Rajat Singh
Feb, 2015 | 304 pages
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Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Mastering Entity Framework
Mastering Entity Framework
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Introduction to Entity Framework
Introduction to Entity Framework
Entity Framework modeling and persistence
Development styles and different Entity Framework approaches
Comparing the development styles
Entity Framework Database First approach
Entity Framework Model First approach
Entity Framework Code First approach
Performing CRUD operations using Entity Framework
Choosing persistence approaches
Summary
2
Entity Framework DB First – Managing Entity Relationships
Entity Framework DB First – Managing Entity Relationships
Understanding database relationships
Creating the Entity model
Modeling a one-to-many relationship
Modeling a one-to-one relationship using Entity Framework
Modeling a many-to-many relationship using Entity Framework
Using navigation properties for data access
Entity Framework – behind the scenes
Summary
3
Entity Framework DB First – Performing Model Validations
Entity Framework DB First – Performing Model Validations
Model validations using Entity Framework
Model validations using data annotations
Summary
4
Entity Framework DB First – Inheritance Relationships between Entities
Entity Framework DB First – Inheritance Relationships between Entities
Domain modeling using inheritance in Entity Framework
The Table per Type inheritance
The Table per Class Hierarchy inheritance
The Table per Concrete Class inheritance
Choosing the inheritance strategy
Summary
5
Entity Framework DB First – Using Views, Stored Procedures, and Functions
Entity Framework DB First – Using Views, Stored Procedures, and Functions
Using views, procedures, and functions
Using Entity Framework with views
Using Entity Framework with stored procedures
Using Entity Framework with functions
Summary
6
Entity Framework Code First – Domain Modeling and Managing Entity Relationships
Entity Framework Code First – Domain Modeling and Managing Entity Relationships
Understanding the Entity Framework Code First approach
Understanding the Code First conventions and configurations
Implementing Entity Framework Code First
Managing Entity relationships using the Code First approach
Inheritance with the Entity Framework Code First approach
Summary
7
Entity Framework Code First – Managing Database Creation and Seeding Data
Entity Framework Code First – Managing Database Creation and Seeding Data
Managing database connections
Managing database initialization
Seeding data
Summary
8
Querying the Entity Data Model – LINQ to Entities
Querying the Entity Data Model – LINQ to Entities
Understanding LINQ to Entities
Querying data using LINQ to Entities
Using LINQ to Entities – an example-based approach
Lazy loading and eager loading
Summary
9
Querying the Object Model – Entity SQL
Querying the Object Model – Entity SQL
Understanding Entity SQL
Understanding EntityConnection
Using Entity SQL with EntityCommand
Summary
10
Managing Concurrency Using Entity Framework
Managing Concurrency Using Entity Framework
Understanding concurrency
Implementing optimistic concurrency using Entity Framework
Entity Framework and pessimistic concurrency
Summary
11
Managing Transactions Using Entity Framework
Managing Transactions Using Entity Framework
Understanding transactions
Setting up the test environment
Entity Framework's default transaction handling
Managing transactions using Entity Framework 6
Choosing the appropriate transaction management
Summary
12
Implementing a Small Blogging Platform Using Entity Framework
Implementing a Small Blogging Platform Using Entity Framework
Understanding the application requirements
Visualizing our database design
Creating the Entity Data Model
Performing data access
Using other Entity Framework approaches
Summary
Index
Index

Choosing the inheritance strategy

Now that we know about all the inheritance strategies supported by Entity Framework, let's try to analyze these approaches. The most important thing is that there is no single strategy that will work for all the scenarios. Especially if we have a legacy database. The best option would be to analyze the application requirements and then look at the existing table structure to see which approach is best suited.

The Table per Class Hierarchy inheritance tends to give us denormalized tables and have redundant columns. We should only use it when the number of properties in the derived classes is very less, so that the number of redundant columns is also less, and this denormalized structure will not create problems over a period of time.

Contrary to TPH, if we have a lot of properties specific to derived classes and only a few common properties, we can use the Table per Concrete Class inheritance. However, in this approach, we will end up with some properties being...

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